Zed vs Alacritty
Both in Editors & terminals — compared item by item
Zed
Code at the speed of thought – Zed is a high-performance, multiplayer code editor from the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter.
| Zed | Alacritty | |
|---|---|---|
| Stars | ★ 90.8k | ★ 65.8k |
| Language | Rust | Rust |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Last updated | 2026-09-24 | 2026-08-31 |
| Usage | 💻 Desktop | ⌨️ CLI / 💻 Desktop |
| Platforms | — | — |
| Category | Editors & terminals | Editors & terminals |
How to choose
- Only Alacritty supports CLI use.
- Both have comparable traction, so pick based on features and day-to-day experience.
- Zed was updated more recently (2026-09-24).
- Different licenses (GPL-3.0 vs Apache-2.0) — check the terms before commercial use.